Kirby is now a firmly-established member in Nintendo's vast catalogue of intellectual properties, but back in 1993 he was very much a newcomer looking to prove himself - as this fascinating interview from the period attests.

Freshly translated by Shumplations.com, the feature originally appeared in the official guidebook for Kirby's Adventure on the NES and featured input from Masahiro Sakurai (Director), Satoru Iwata (Producer / Programmer), Shigeru Miyamoto – (Producer), Hiroaki Suga (Chief Programmer), Takao Shimizu (Producer) and Takashi Saitou (Designer).

As you can imagine, the questions and answers are rather light-hearted, but there are some interesting nuggets of into contained within. Discussing the origins of the character, it is revealed that he could have been a different colour than his now-famous pink:

Was Kirby always pink?

Sakurai: I had been thinking he would be pink since we made Kirby's Dream Land, yes. Of course the Game Boy visuals had to be monochrome.

Shimizu: But Sakurai, you were the only one who thought Kirby was pink!

Sakurai: Yeah, that's right! Once it came time to create a full-color promotional illustration for Kirby's Adventure, the staff were all talking about it: "What! You mean Kirby isn't white?!" or "I thought he was yellow…" (laughs)

Iwata: Now that you mention it, on the cover for the American release of Kirby's Dream Land, Kirby was colored white. It had a very mysterious aura!

Miyamoto: I remember the first time I saw the color illustration. "Yeah, pink. That looks good!", I thought to myself. Normally a character like Kirby would have been yellow. Think Pac Man, or Noobow. (laughs) That's why when I saw Kirby with a different color, it felt really fresh.

Another topic was the name:

Why is his name "Kirby"?

Iwata: Before we settled on the name Kirby, he was originally called Twinkle Popo. After we finished the game, however, we talked with Nintendo and it was decided that we should change the name.

Shimizu: We wanted American kids to enjoy this game too, you see. We asked Nintendo of America for their suggestions. Kirby was one of many that they sent us, and it caught my eye when I first saw it. I remember "Gasper" was another one… there were lots.

Miyamoto: We wanted a name that would sound like an American idol. But "Kirby" was actually the name of an important lawyer at Nintendo of America. (laughs)

Later, Kirby's unique powers are discussed, as are some of the abilities which were cut from the final game:

Iwata: Originally we had over 40 enemy abilities. From those we selected the best ones, whittling it down to the final number you see in the game today.

Saitou: What were some of the abilities that didn't make the cut?

Sakurai: I believe there was one where you could create blocks, and one where Kirby could shrink down. I think there was even one where Kirby rode on a rocket.

Iwata: There was one called "Animal" too, where you could scratch and bite enemies.

Amusingly, the team then talk about the pressure certain members placed on themselves by striving for perfection:

Iwata: Someone said, "Wouldn't it be cool if Kirby planted a flag when he beats the level and comes out of the door!" And before you knew it, I had programmed that in myself. (laughs)

Saitou: That door was originally square, too. But Shimizu came to us and pointed out that, "the problem with this door is that it opens inwards, but Kirby is standing there in front of it, so you can't tell if it's open or not."

Iwata: I remember he had that grin on his face when he said it, too. (laughs)

Saitou: The development center of HAL Laboratories is in the Koufu Basin in Yamanashi prefecture. There was a ryokan inn near our offices with hinoki onsen baths. Towards the end Shimizu was taking a bath there nearly everyday before work. (laughs)

As with all of the interviews translated by Shumplations.com, this is well worth a look. Kirby's Adventure is available on the Wii U Virtual Console, so why not check it out if you haven't done so already?

Damien has over a decade of professional writing experience under his belt, as well as a repulsively hairy belly. Rumours that he turned down a role in The Hobbit to work on Nintendo Life are, to the best of our knowledge, completely and utterly unfounded.

Hmmm...I clicked on this story not expecting anything new but there's some nice little bits of info such as why Kirby was even considered to be yellow and Gasper being a possible name. Interesting stuff

I thought Kirby was named after the vacuum cleaner brand of the same name. Once my friend needed a name for his Kirby amiibo, so he told me to look up the most popular vacuum brand in the 80's. When I told him, he was disappointed cause it didn't help at all.

If it weren't for the context I would not have recognised Sakurai in that picture. Does he have Benjamin-Button-Syndrome? I seriously think he looks younger now than he did then. But might be the haircut and the more serious clothes.

@Haiassai If you want a "traditional" Kirby game, Kirby Triple Deluxe for 3DS is stellar. Far and away the best traditional Kirby game since Super Star Saga almost 20 years ago and probably my personal favorite (Superstar Saga and Kirby's Adventure are high points in the series and both on Virtual Console).

But Kirby's better when he's not in a normal platformer. I'd recommend Mass Attack for the original DS. I call it "the Pikmin platformer" because you control 10 different Kirbys and you throw them Pikmin-style at obstacles. Flipping awesome game.

Never heard of Kirby vaccum cleaners...just Henry. Kirby is a common surname though, meaning (someone from) "the settlement with/near/of a church (Kirk)". Now also used as a forename, but moreso in the US than in Britain. Definitely prefer Kirby to Gasper. These old interviews remind me of how innovative Nintendo has been through the years.

@Yeahman It confused me when I read your comment because I'd never heard of Squeak Squad. Another case of Nintendo changing the names in different regions for no apparant reason, because it was called Mouse Attack here in the UK.

Dang, Sakurai completely metamorphosised over the years! He looks like an entirely different person in that picture. He looks much better now, although he doesn't look nearly as happy anymore, poor guy.

@Artwark I was wondering the same thing about the glasses. Maybe he got contacts?

Kirby is not necessarily "named after' the lawyer.Kirby could have been named after the vacuum.NoA had a list of names. Kirby stood out. NoA could have put Kirby on the list because of the vacuums and we don't know if Kirby was chosen because there was a lawyer that worked for them.Just saying.This is how inaccurate stories start from facts (like the MIyamoto Sakurai arguing over pink mentioned above)